OUR VIEW: Everyone should take time to read Constitution

As we look back on Constitution Week and think about our rights, several things come to mind.

These days, much of the debate about constitutional rights focuses on the First Amendment, which has had local implications with the Muslim population. It also focuses on the Second Amendment, defending one's rights to bear arms.

In July, we had a first-hand debate about the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against searches, seizures and arrests without appropriate probable cause and every day in our courts we see several of the first 10 amendments being practiced in area courts.

What is interesting is a review of some of the other rights afforded Americans in the Bill of Rights and other amendments.

These amendments address all manner of issues including the abolition of slavery, voting rights, judicial power over foreign nationals, women's suffrage, limitations on terms of presidents and even how U.S. senators are elected.

At the end of the day, we are left with one indelible fact: The U.S. Constitution is an incredible document that has stood the test of time for more than 200 years.

We believe the Constitution will continue to stand the test of time, but in order to do so two things must happen.

First, our citizens must gain a greater understanding of what is actually in the Constitution. It is not a long document, and in all truth, most of us probably have not read it since high school civics class, and even then it might have been glossed over. So we encourage everyone to read this great document.

At the same time, we can't be afraid of debate. What does the right to bear arms mean? How does surveillance play into our rights to privacy? What is the impact of the Internet on free speech?

These are complex issues that do not have easy answers, and they boil down to this question. Is the Constitution a malleable document that changes with the times? Or is it a rigid document that can't be altered?

These are the conversations we need to have, but before we can have them we must all become, not constitutional scholars, but at least well versed in the Constitution and what it actually says about the various rights it seeks to protect.

The best way to do that, as we mentioned earlier, is to just read it.

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OUR VIEW: Everyone should take time to read Constitution

As we look back on Constitution Week and think about our rights, several things come to mind.